Jersey Six - Jewel E Ann Page 0,51
bribing people to be well-behaved was part of her everyday duties.
“And what did you say?” He cocked his head to the side, a playful glint in his eyes.
The elevator doors opened.
“Game faces, kids. A mob of paparazzi awaits.” Max and Shane stepped off the elevator.
“Why didn’t we go out a side door?” Jersey asked Max.
“They’re at all the entrances. Word got out where we’re staying.” Max looped her arm with Jersey’s arm and dragged her toward the entrance, distancing them from Ian and Shane.
A few people snapped photos of Jersey as Max stuffed her into the back of the SUV, but most of the attention went to Ian. He stopped for a few autographs and smiled for the cameras before Shane opened the back door, and Ian hopped in next to Jersey. Even after the door closed, the camera flashes continued.
As Shane shoved the vehicle into drive, Ian glanced over at Jersey and rested his hand on her leg. “You okay?”
She stared at his hand. Jersey liked the feel of Ian touching her, but she hated the memories of being touched—a polarity of emotions that warred inside of her. “Of course. I used to deal with that popularity crap at Marley’s. I couldn’t leave the building without someone snapping my picture or asking for my autograph. I was kind of a big deal around there. You know … my undefeated title and all that.”
Ian squeezed her leg. “I can see that about you.”
Jersey hugged her arms to her chest, unsure what to do with them while he continued to use her leg as a rest for his hand. After several stiff minutes, he retracted his hand and fetched his phone from his pocket. She relaxed her arms a tiny centimeter at a time to conceal her relief.
“I don’t know, Ian. Last year’s cover is going to be hard to beat.” Max held up a magazine with Ian on the cover—naked except for a guitar covering his man parts.
He chuckled. “Squint all you want, Jersey. You’re not going to see past the guitar.”
She leaned closer, continuing to squint. “Shut it, Coop. I’m just trying to see the title of the magazine.”
“Coop?” Max twisted her lips to hide her amusement.
Ian grabbed the magazine from Max and held it up—as far away from Jersey as possible. “Can you read the title?”
Jersey shook her head and squinted.
He moved it a bit closer. “Now?”
“No.” She leaned closer and took it from him, bringing it less than two feet from her face. “Now I can.”
“Jesus, Jersey … you need glasses.” Ian shook his head.
She knew that. Dena took her to the eye doctor. They got her a prescription and picked out a sleek pair of frames for her new glasses. The day Dena died was the day she was supposed to take Jersey to pick up her glasses.
Twenty-twenty vision and pizza on the same day. A day that should have been one of the best days of Jersey’s life turned into the worst day of her life.
Worse than the day she took a man’s life.
Worse than every day she was abused physically and sexually.
Worse than any day she exchanged her body for something like food or antibiotic ointment.
Jersey nodded, handing the magazine back to Ian. “This one time, Marley let me look through his thick glasses. It was like a whole new world to me. He said they probably weren’t the right strength for my eyes, and that I shouldn’t look through them that long … like they could have messed with my sight or something, but I didn’t care. So sometimes when he’d doze off in his chair, I’d ease his glasses from his face and wear them outside just to see all the shit that I’d been missing.”
Ian frowned and so did Max as they stared back at Jersey.
“We’re going to get you glasses,” Max said without even looking at Ian.
Jersey’s gaze shifted to him. Ian nodded several times. His expression held an uneasy sadness.
“It’s fine. I just got paid. I can probably afford a pair of glasses if I don’t buy a phone like Max suggested. I can just send you messages on receipts. Right, Coop?”
“Pfft …” Max faced forward again.
A smile cracked Ian’s frown as the car stopped at an old warehouse. They spent two hours at a photoshoot, grabbed coffees on the way to a radio interview, more coffee and a clothing change before a television appearance, and finally a thirty-minute podcast with a young woman who was some sort of